Trapped
by aminat
Summary: What if they had no choice but to confront each other? Post A Deadly Game, finale fix. No spoilers for season 3. Complete for now.
1. Chapter 1

"See you in the fall."

After the elevator doors slid closed the 12th precinct was unusually silent. Almost unbearably silent, with just the echoes of those five words running through Kate's mind.

"… request by the mayor, or I wouldn't ask you to do it." Kate was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she missed the sound of cell phones ringing in the break room, and then it took a few seconds for her to realize the captain was standing in the doorway talking to her.

Kate shook her head to try to clear her mind. "Sorry sir, could you repeat that?"

The captain faltered slightly, sympathy flashing over his features so fast that had Kate not been a detective she probably would've missed it. "There's been a murder. I know you're supposed to be taking the weekend off, but the mayor has requested you take the case…"

Kate grabbed the note in the captain's hand, skimming it quickly to check the address was on there, trying to get out before the he could voice any of the concern she had briefly seen on his face. Kate pointed at the elevator and started walking quickly, not wanting to give the captain, or any of the people who were behind him in the room for that matter, the chance to break the delicate hold she had on her emotions. "Yeah, no problem…I'll just…"

"Wait! Kate! There's something else…"

Kate didn't look back. Didn't want to look back. "It's ok sir, I've got it."

As the elevator doors closed she heard him shout her name one last time, and pointedly ignored it. Leaning against the wall she closed her eyes and tried to push Castle out of her head. In all honesty it was a relief to have something to focus on. Something other than those five words and a vapid blonde ex-wife.

If this case hadn't fallen in to her lap she didn't know what she would have done. Her usual method of dealing with a bad day was going home and reading. Reading Castle's books, unfortunately, which probably would have been a complete disaster right now. It wasn't like she even had any other books – everything had been destroyed in the explosion and she hadn't had chance to replace anything but essentials, like clothes. Castle had turned up on her doorstep, a few days after she moved in to her new place, carrying a box full of his novels. To anyone else this might have seemed a little vain, him gifting her with his own books. To her it was sweet, although at the time she pushed that reaction down. Thinking back, she realized she missed a lot of chances to admit that there was more than a working relationship going on. That he had slowly wormed his way into her heart, then run over it with a mack truck just as she started to figure everything out.

Kate sighed as she realized the direction her thoughts were going in. It was almost as if the act of admitting to herself that she felt something for him opened a floodgate, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the missed opportunities. She was too late.

She made attempts to go back to detective mode on the drive over to the crime scene, and slowly it started to take. She felt the walls rebuilding, felt herself pushing down Kate in favor of Detective Beckett. By the time she arrived at the scene she was her cool, calm, collected self, or at least she chose to believe that was the case.

The crime scene was in a very lavish apartment building, in the penthouse. Kate's eyebrows rose when she saw the apartment. It was tastefully decorated, but you could tell with once glance that each item was worth a small fortune.

Lanie had somehow beaten her to the crime scene and was examining the body in the master bedroom. Sensing that Kate was all business she was concise. "Gunshot wound to the back of the head. From the directionality of the blood splatter it looks like the vic was running towards that," Lanie pointed in the direction of a smaller room towards the back of the bedroom.

Kate walked over to the windowless room, which was a little dark with only the light from the bedroom filtering in. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust then she glanced around. Several shelves lined the walls to the right of the doorway. There were basic supplies – canned food, bottles of water, first aid kit, candles and matches, among other supplies. On the left of the door, attached to the wall, there was a phone and a panel with a keypad. There was a large couch, large enough to lend itself as a bed if need be, against the back wall. Another door was beside it, in the far left corner. She walked inside and could make out a small bathroom, also stocked with supplies like shampoo, toothbrushes and several tubes of toothpaste.

Clearly the victim had been worried about his safety. Why else would he build a panic room, and keep it fully stocked?

_I wonder what Castle would say to this_. Unbidden the thought entered her mind. Justifying the thought was simple, this was the first case she had worked without him for a long time. Justifying why her mind was now making her hear Castle complaining about how dark it was, was a different matter. Maybe she was losing her mind. Turning around she saw someone else was in the panic room, near the phone and TV, and the shadowy form she could make out looked very familiar. Ok… so now she was hallucinating Castle? What the hell was wrong with her?

As she walked into the room and could now see, hear and even smell him she realized she was either completely losing it or Castle was standing a few feet away from her messing around with something on the wall.

Before Kate had time to gather her wits, he pumped his fist and yelled "Ah ha!" before pressing a button. When the lights didn't come on he whirled around looking for another switch, and finally spotted her in the doorway of the bathroom.

They stood staring at each other for just a second too long, and missed the fact that the light filtering in was fading because the door to the panic room was sliding closed, trapping them both inside.

Kate wasn't sure how long they actually continued staring at each other. Well, let's be honest, in the general direction of each other considering the room was now pitch black. She was broken out of her reverie by a buzzing, which was again in the general direction of Castle. Just as she was considering the logic of blindly walking in that general direction, which she was pretty sure could cause all kinds of bad, low level emergency lights flickered on above her. Which was a mixed blessing. Yes, there was less chance of the kind of bad her fumbling around in the dark with Richard Castle would cause - and wow that sounded totally wrong right after she thought it – but now she actually had to face him. She wasn't ready for that. She wasn't even completely sure how much of a hold she had on Detective Beckett, and the last thing she needed was Kate, fresh from the mack truck hit and run, overruling her. Oh and this was so not the moment to wonder exactly how healthy it was to be thinking of herself as two different entities…

Kate took what she hoped was a calming breath, and then actually realized something. She was locked in a room with Castle. This was worrying in two ways. Firstly, she was locked in a room with Castle. That was the obvious one. The second one was a little more worrying, which was in and of itself slightly disturbing. The problem was that she had only just realized that she was locked in a room with Castle. This was not good. Calm, cool Detective Beckett did not take what seemed like an excessive amount of time to come to a fairly simple conclusion. She also wouldn't be running a fairly extensive inner monologue, while staring at Richard Castle, and doing little else. So… today was going really well.

Castle, well he was scared to move, maybe even to blink. Any minute now Beckett was going to realize that he had, admittedly accidentally, flipped the switch that operated the door. The fact that she was just standing there staring was not helping, since he could only imagine that she was thinking of at least 8 different ways to kill him.

Somewhere in the last few weeks he had lost his ability to read her, and the reminder of why that had happened gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was why he had to get away. Martha had inadvertently suggested that leaving Kate alone for a while might help her realize her feelings for him, which is part of what had led him to make the grand exit with Gina. But more than that, Castle couldn't stay in New York watching Kate fall in love with another man. And part of Kate obviously knew that, since something must have caused the realization that the whole thing could make things 'awkward'. Awkward. He could think of hundreds of better words to describe your heart being slowly broken. Or at least he could under normal circumstances. And what was that noise?

Kate had shaken herself out of her thoughts again and finally took a step towards Castle, who still didn't seem to have noticed the buzzing coming from the phone right next to where he was standing. Her movement seemed to break his concentration, and if she hadn't been trying so desperately hard to school her own expression she wouldn't have missed the brief flash of pain wash over his features.

Castle finally realized the buzzing was coming from the phone next to the door, and that Kate was obviously heading in that direction to pick up the handset. That at least gave him a few more moments to steel himself for the conversation he knew would be coming. Hopefully without an ass kicking for getting them in this predicament, even if that did seem unlikely.

Kate picked up the handset and gave her customary "Beckett."

"You want the good news or the bad news?"

"Esposito…" the threat was clear in her tone. She wasn't in the mood to play games right now.

"Ok, so the panic room door can only be opened using the code, which only the vic knew. But the housekeeper has got the number for the guy who installed it, and Ryan's on the phone with him right now." Esposito knew better than to try to mess with her right now, even with about a foot of metal separating them, but he just couldn't stop himself from adding with a laugh, "just don't let Castle press any more buttons until we know what they do."

Cursing her reaction to the man, which had clearly distracted her from the fact that he was the reason they were now trapped in the panic room, Kate rounded on Castle.

"Not my fault!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

The last five minutes had been torture for Castle. Beckett still hadn't said a word, which only made him more anxious. Clearly she was moments away from ripping into him, and the waiting was getting to him.

It wasn't any easier for Kate, who was still trying to figure out exactly what to say to him. She should be mad. He locked them in a panic room after kinda-sorta breaking her heart. That was the kind of thing that made people mad, right? But when she saw him holding up his hands trying to convince her not to hurt him she just didn't know what to say to him. In all honesty, even back at the precinct she wasn't sure what she was actually going to say. Now? No idea, and she still couldn't stop herself from shooting glances his way.

With a frustrated sigh Kate threw herself down on the couch. If he wanted to talk to her he would.

Castle was, in all honesty, a little baffled by her behavior. The only time he'd been this confused about the way she was acting was the couple of days where she would suddenly find a reason to leave the room every time they both talked to Lanie. At one point, he was sure he saw her practically run out of the breakroom, where she had been talking to Lanie, as he walked in.

After spending the last few minutes waiting for Kate to tear him a new one, the lack of response was unexpected, to say the least. He wasn't about to sit down on the couch with her, just in case she was gearing up to something, so he stayed near the door, out of arms reach, attempting to look casual while leaning against the wall. Unfortunately, attempting to look casual does not actually guarantee you a casual mindset. So, when the phone started buzzing again, there was nothing he could do to hide the fact that he nearly jumped out of his skin. He tried to cover it by acting like he was rushing to answer the phone, and made a point of not looking in Kate's direction to see if he'd been caught out.

"Castle."

"Hey… listen, I have some bad news. Do you wanna put Beckett on the phone or do you want to tell her yourself?" Esposito sounded a little scared. That was enough to worry Castle.

"Definitely the former, hold on a minute." There was no way Castle was giving her the news. There's 'shoot the messenger' but more importantly there's 'shoot the messenger-who's-also-the-guy-who-got-you-locked-in-here'. As Kate loved to point out, she had a gun. Not gonna happen.

Castle held out the phone to Kate. "It's Esposito again."

Kate got up from the couch and took the phone warily, not keen on the look on Castle's face.

"You have an update?" She knew he'd be able to pick up on the frustration in her voice, but she just didn't have it in her to stop it coloring her voice.

"Yeah but you're not gonna like it." Kate could practically hear the grimace on Esposito's face.

"Just tell me." She was pretty sure today couldn't get any worse.

"Ok… so the engineer took a look at the door. Since he installed the room, we thought he would be able to override the lockdown somehow…" 

Kate rolled her eyes. "I'm guessing you thought wrong."

"Yeah…" He was clearly hesitant to break whatever news he had.

"Esposito…" Kate almost growled his name in annoyance. "Get to the point."

"He needs to drill into the door to get the lock to release. It's gonna take… a while."

"How long is a while?" This was like pulling teeth, and Kate was losing what little patience she had left.

"He thinks maybe 5 hours." He said it fast so it came out a little garbled, like he was hoping she wouldn't catch it and would somehow let it drop without clarification.

"FIVE HOURS?" Beckett almost dropped the phone. Five hours trapped in a room with Castle? Okay, so the day could get worse.

"Uh… yeah, hopefully no more…"

"That's the conservative estimate?" Kate was seconds away from banging her head against the metal door. Repeatedly.

"Beckett, these rooms are supposed to be hard to get into. It's kind of the point. Anyway there's more."

"Great." What the hell was wrong with her life?

"We have to turn off the power so he can drill. That means no air con, no lights…" Esposito trailed off and waited for her reaction.

"Are you serious, or is this a really bad joke?" Kate was praying for a bad joke.

"It's the only way we can get the door open without the code."

Kate struggled to think of something to say to make it seem like she wasn't freaking out. Esposito did NOT need to know how much she was freaking out. In a tone she hoped sounded all business she asked, "Do we need to worry about air?"

"No, you guys should be fine, but it might get a little toasty without the air con. There's one last thing. With no power this phone's gonna stop working." From the tone of his voice it was clear that he wasn't enjoying his roll as the bearer of bad tidings. Kate was pretty sure he must have lost a bet with either Ryan or Lanie - or even both of them. Although, Lanie would probably be enjoying the idea of Kate and Castle locked in a glorified cupboard, particularly after how things went earlier in the day. After a few drinks she had once actually threatened to lock the two of them in a closet, claiming she'd had enough of listening to Kate complaining about Castle for what she said felt like a decade. For the next couple of days Kate had actually shied away from standing near any lockable cupboard, closet, or unoccupied room when in the presence of both Lanie and Castle. Where Lanie is concerned it was always better to be safe than sorry, which was actually true for Castle too, now she thought about it. God only knows what would happen if the two joined forces.

"Do you have your cell?" Esposito asked, snapping her out of her thoughts once again.

Kate grabbed her phone out of her pocket. "Yeah, but the battery's almost dead. I didn't get chance to charge it." She mentally berated herself for getting so distracted. Kate turned to Castle, who she had been studiously avoiding looking at during the conversation, and spoke her first words to him since arriving at the scene. "Do you have your cell?"

"No." Castle really should have realized that a one-word answer from him was a red flag.

"No? You always have your cell, you're unhealthy attached to it." The frustration of the situation was definitely creeping into her voice again, but there was nothing she could do about it.

He muttered something Kate didn't catch, and when she raised her eyebrow he cringed and repeated a little louder "Gina confiscated it."

Castle was pretty sure her eyebrow shouldn't be able to get as high as it did when she heard that. He was a little surprised when Kate just repeated that he didn't have his cell to Esposito.

For her part Kate just couldn't face saying the other woman's name. Esposito said he would text her updates to try and conserve her battery and that the power would be going out in the next few minutes.

After the phone disconnected Kate took a couple of seconds to compose herself before replacing the handset and turning back to Castle, who was doing his best to look apologetic. When she didn't say anything Castle figured, against his better judgment, it was up to him to break the ice.

"Soooo.. five hours, huh?"

If looks could kill Castle would really have something to worry about. Then again, she still had her gun.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was too hot. The cold water in the shower was a blessed relief, and Kate stood under the spray, letting it run over her skin. The candlelight was soft, but the water was so cold that the glass door hadn't steamed up. All that was distorting Castle's view of her back were the tiny droplets of water clinging to the glass. As he took a step towards the shower Kate turned, hearing his soft footsteps, and, after hesitating a moment, moved forward and opened the door. Castle's breath caught and he slowly ran his eyes over her body, causing her skin to flush lightly. In the heat he had already had to lose his shirt, but he quickly took off his jeans and, after a quick look in Kate's eyes, his boxers and stepped into the shower. Kate slowly moved backwards as Castle advanced, stopping when she could feel the cool tiles on her back.

Castle stopped about an inch away from her body, leaned in so his mouth was just ghosting her ear and whispered "Extraordinary". Kate turned her head to the side and caught his gaze, time seemed to slow as they moved towards each other. They froze seconds away from touching, as the sound of drilling filled the air.

* * *

Castle and Kate were both jolted awake by the sound of the engineer drilling loudly outside the room, Kate on the couch, and Castle leaning against the panic room door.

After a few strained moments of conversation just before the power went out, and a couple more after – mostly about lighting candles (both were relieved when Castle didn't make a joke) – they had settled into their respective corners. It had been a long and trying day for both of them, and they were both mentally and physically exhausted. As the power went out, and the room quickly warmed up, they had both fallen into a light doze, it could have only been for a few minutes, but it was enough for them to wake up a little disorientated.

Castle, figuring his position against the door was not the safest place to be, pulled himself to his feet, deciding to take another look around. They had lit a couple of candles and put them on a table next to the couch. The room was still fairly dark, but the glow of the candles was enough to make things out, so he took a better look at the supplies on the shelves. He quickly came to the same conclusion as Kate – that the panic room was kept fairly well stocked. Unfortunately, it wasn't stocked with anything interesting enough to hold his attention for long, so with nothing else around he decided to focus his attention on Kate, wandering over and sitting down on the other end of the couch.

Kate hoped that the candlelight would help mask the apprehension she felt when he sat down and turned towards her. The insanely loud drilling seem to have stopped for now, and Castle decided this would be as good a time as any to make amends.

"I'm sorry." This was the second time Kate had heard him say those words that way, and, considering the circumstances of the first time, it made her wonder if he had realized what he had actually walked out on earlier that night. It was Castle though, so clarification was always a good way to go.

"What for?" Kate sounded a little defeated, which wasn't a tone Castle was used to hearing in her voice, and the question seemed a little rhetorical.

"For getting us locked in here, what else?" He actually sounded confused, so it was clear to Kate that he hadn't picked up on anything. Probably a good thing, so she decided to just go with it.

"Castle, I've known you for nearly two years. In all honesty I'm surprised it took this long for you to get us locked in a room together." The second the words left her mouth it was all Kate could do not to cringe.

"Oh detective, if I'd known… mmkwuck." The end of Castle's sentence was muffled as Kate put her hand over his mouth, withdrawing it just as fast when she realized touching his was also a really bad plan. She stared at her hand for a moment willing the tingling sensation to disappear.

"You know exactly what I meant to say." Even as she said the words she wondered if maybe she had been right in the first place. It had been pointed out to her regularly throughout the day that research couldn't still be the reason he was shadowing her.

"Gina's going to kill me." Castle actually looked a little scared, which would have amused Kate in any other situation.

"What are you even doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on your way to the Hamptons?" Kate was hoping to avoid having to say the G-word for the duration of their incarceration, partly because she wasn't sure she could say the word without sounding like she wanted to scratch G-word's eyes out and partly because it felt like someone kicked her in the stomach every time she heard it.

"The mayor called and asked me to consult, the dead guy is a big donor. Gina said I had 10 minutes, so she's probably out there now threatening someone."

"And your phone?" Kate was honestly interested in how someone (not even saying the G-word in her head seemed like a good idea) managed to separate Castle and his iPhone.

"She took that the minute we got in the car. She's serious when she says she'll be on top of me until I get the book done. I'm not entirely sure I was thinking clearly when I asked her to come with me this weekend."

"So why did you?" Again, the words came out of Kate's mouth before she had even thought them through.

"There were a few reasons." A not-completely-comfortable silence followed Castle's words - Kate waiting for him to continue, and Castle trying to think of a way to get out of having to. He didn't want to explain that he couldn't bear the thought of being alone while Kate was with Demming. It was this desire to avoid more questions that led him to ask her if Demming would be worried about her, since they were supposed to be leaving themselves.

Kate paused for a moment, not sure how to answer. In the end she decided they had danced around the subject of Demming for too long already, so she just replied honestly, "We decided not to go away this weekend."

"Really? Why?" The surprise was evident in his voice. He hadn't seen this coming at all.

Kate looked up at him, debating how best to answer. In light of the way she felt about Castle, she didn't want to be anything less than honest. But at the same time, he was leaving the city with another woman. Still, the universe had clearly given her a second chance. She could make it count without leaving herself too vulnerable. "We decided to stop seeing each other."

"I'm sorry." He really did sound sorry.

"Why?" Kate needed this answer. She needed to know that everything she had gone through in the last few days was actually worth something, even if the evening didn't turned out the way she had hoped it would.

"I want you to be happy." Again, he sounded sincere, and something about it made Kate's heart briefly overrule her mind one more time.

"So why are you leaving?"

**

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**I'm so sorry for the delay in updating, I'm gonna try and make sure it doesn't happen again. Thank you so much for the reviews. I was incredibly nervous about posting this fic, and it was wonderful to read them. Also, yes I did borrow from CSI:NY – good catch!**


	4. Chapter 4

"So why are you leaving?"

Kate wasn't sure whether to be unbelievably frustrated or unbelievably thankful that the drilling had started again, and that it was so loud it drowned out her words. There was no way they would be able to continue the conversation until the drilling stopped, so she had some time to decide whether to just lay it all on the table – the third attempt – or leave it alone.

If she laid it all out for him and he still left with Gina, she would be crushed. If she left it alone, he would leave with Gina and she would still be crushed. Considering the direction of her evening so far, it was a lot easier to imagine one of those outcomes. Yes, she could tell him and he could smile and tell her he felt the same way. He could kiss her and there would, of course, be mind-blowing sex. The couch looked comfy and the shower in the bathroom was pretty huge, which gave her a weird déjà vu… and she really needed to not let her imagination get carried away. Maybe it was the heat, because the room was really starting to get uncomfortably warm. There was also the fact that the object of her thoughts was sitting just a few inches away and right at that moment had an adorable confused expression on his face. The heat was also to blame for her use of the word adorable, and the fact that she couldn't stop stealing glances, she decided.

Castle's mind was running even faster than it did when he had a breakthrough in his writing. She'd broken up with Demming. Was it too much to hope she could have done it for him? But if she had why hadn't she told him? Unless she'd tried to and he'd shoved Gina in her face, then walked off into the night, knowing he wouldn't see her for four months and acting like he was perfectly fine with it. If Kate hadn't been sitting right next to him he would have literally kicked himself, but since she was he had to settle for mentally berating himself in a very long and not particularly pleasant way. Then he stopped himself. Yes, he was becoming pretty sure that he had missed the moment he had been waiting for since he met Kate, but that didn't mean he had completely lost his opportunity. All this time he had been waiting for her to show him she wanted something more, and she had. Admittedly, this was based on a fair amount of guesswork, and he had no actual evidence that Kate had been thinking what he was hoping she was thinking, but when had lack of evidence ever stopped him, seriously?

Castle debated his options; he could talk this out with her and find out what exactly was going on, or he could attempt to worm his way past her defenses the same way he had for the past two years. Considering how skittish she had been since they got themselves trapped in here – ok, since he got them trapped in here (which was quickly becoming the best mistake he had ever made) – both options were risky. Sure Kate had opened up to him a few times, but generally she wasn't one to talk about her feelings. And she was not someone who appreciated being rushed; she would decide things in her own damn time. Which made him mentally kick himself again, since it seemed like he had missed a golden opportunity earlier. The chances of getting a repeat (hopefully extended) performance were slim to none, and the drilling wasn't exactly ideal. He was going to have to do something, because if the doors opened before they talked this out who knows if they'll ever get this chance again. Gina must be out there yelling at everyone, and she would expect him to leave with her as soon as the doors open.

The drilling stopped again before either of them had really decided what they wanted to do. Scratch that, they both knew _exactly _what they really wanted to do, but were stuck figuring out what was the _best_ thing to do. Castle opened his mouth once or twice then closed it again, still lost for what to say. Kate stole the occasional glance between staring into space and chewing her bottom lip.

They were grateful when Kate's cell started vibrating on the table, breaking the silence and taking a little of the tension with it. Kate read the text from the boys and was torn between rolling her eyes and laughing. She passed the phone to Castle, who did laugh, which made Kate laugh with him.

**ETA still the same, sorry. ****If you haven't shot Castle yet, tell him the butler did it!  
**

The laughter made the atmosphere change for the better. There was still tension, but Kate could now admit to herself that there had always been tension of one form or another when they were together. They still had over four hours in each other's company, and the part of her that was scared about making the leap, of confessing to Castle what it was she had wanted to say before, was convincing her that she didn't have to act right away. Admittedly, the other part was calling her a coward in the background. It was getting too warm to think straight and, while aware that the temperature was only going to get worse, she knew she had been looking for an excuse so jumped on the one she found.

Castle was still trying to figure out what to do, but the heat was really getting to him too. The best he could come up with was some really bad jokes about Heat Wave, which somehow made Kate laugh (she would normally have either rolled her eyes, threatened him or both). As much as he would have loved to believe she found his bad jokes funny he was a little concerned that the heat was affecting her more than him. His previous ideas about sneakily getting her to confess why she broke up with Demming disappeared, and he went back over to the shelves and picked up a couple of bottles of water and some crackers. Knowing Kate, it was easy to believe that she hadn't eaten much during the day. Especially since he hadn't brought her a bear claw and coffee this morning. He wasn't really sure why he hadn't brought one. He knew she would notice, and after finding out about her trip with Demming he got a twisted pleasure out of it. He was an idiot. She had probably barely eaten all day, and he did believe her when she said she didn't want to make things awkward. All in all, the last few days had not been his finest.

"You need these." Castle passed her a bottle of water and some crackers and sat back down.

"Thanks." Kate hadn't realized how thirsty she was until she started drinking the water. She finished the bottle within a few seconds, so Castle passed her his bottle and got up to get another.

"You should probably eat some crackers too." He was actually getting a little concerned about her. It would only get warmer and she was looking a little out of it already.

She dutifully opened the packet – they were the small ones you see in some hotels and restaurants – and took a half hearted nibble on a cracker. She wasn't hungry, it was too warm to eat and she was starting to feel a little sleepy. She took off her boots and socks, curled herself up on her side of the couch and mumbled to Castle that she was going to take a nap. He looked a little doubtful and then shrugged. It was late, they were both tired and the couch was nice. She'd already drunk a bottle of water, which should make her feel better. A nap couldn't hurt. He drank some of his water, took off his own shoes and socks and got himself into a comfortable position on his side of the couch. They both drifted off together.

* * *

They slept a little longer this time, Kate waking up first – mainly because it was so damn hot. She headed into the bathroom, careful not to wake Castle as she got up from the couch. She wasn't feeling great and knew that she needed to do three things. Drink some more water, actually eat something and – and this was the thing that was really a worry – if she didn't lose some of her clothes she felt like she was going to go crazy. She had on pants and a shirt, which basically left the option of sitting around in her underwear for – she checked her watch – at least four hours. Knowing that was never going to happen she went over to the sink and splashed some cold water on her face. It helped a little. She looked wistfully at the shower but had no intention of using it with Castle in the other room and no lock on the door. That would just be asking for trouble.

She headed back to the door leading into the main room, expecting to see a sleeping Castle on the couch. She froze in the doorway, knowing she must look like a deer in the headlights, but having momentarily lost control of her motor functions. Castle was standing by the couch with his shirt in his hand. He was still wearing his jeans, but there was nothing covering his chest… and Kate was staring. She couldn't help it! When he took a step towards her it took all her will power not to take a step back, to put some distance between them.

"Kate? Did you hear what I said?" He sounded concerned, which wasn't the inflection she… umm… well she wasn't about to admit, even to herself, but her mind had jumped ahead in a direction that made her blush a little. She hadn't really expected his chest to be so broad, he obviously took better care of himself than he made out. Thankful for the candlelight, she shook her head and waited for him to repeat himself, trying to keep her eyes on anything but his chest.

"I asked you if you wanted to wear my shirt, since it's getting so warm." Castle was concerned. He had slept fitfully, worried about the affect the heat was having on Beckett. That she now seemed confused, and he could just make out the flush on her cheeks, just compounded it.

Kate's eyes widened as she realized what he was saying, but one look at his face made it clear that he was actually concerned about her, which was really kinda sweet. She took the shirt, murmuring a thank you and turned back into the bathroom to change. Kate leaned against the door and closed her eyes. If it wasn't for Castle being in the next room she would have seriously considered banging her head against the wall, which was becoming a worryingly frequent idea. If she hadn't been so unbelievably warm she would've just made him put it back on because this seemed like a really really bad idea. She was supposed to sit out there, wearing his shirt, and therefore – of course – him wearing no shirt?

No matter how she looked at it there was no alternative. She knew she would only start to feel worse if she didn't lose some of her clothes, so she just admitted defeat and stripped off her shirt and pants, and then slipped on the shirt, buttoning it up all the way. Realizing that was dumb in this heat, she stopped and undid the top two buttons. The shirt smelt like him, and combined with the new mental image she had of him shirtless it made her mind feel even fuzzier. She needed to snap out of it. She grabbed her clothes, and the badge and gun that she no longer had anywhere to keep, and, taking one final calming breath, walked into the main room, determined to act like everything was normal.

Castle had been facing away from her, just rechecking supplies again, when she walked into the room. When he turned around it was his turn to stare. He hadn't really thought this idea through. He'd been so concerned about her that he had given her the shirt because it seemed like the best thing to do. He hadn't counted on the effect seeing her in his shirt would have on him. Seeing her barefoot, wearing his clothes – it seemed really intimate.

Kate wandered around the room looking for somewhere to stash her clothes, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Castle just couldn't take his eyes off her. She stopped and put her belongings on the floor near the panic room door, riffling through the pockets of her pants briefly before standing up. She was facing away from him, thank god, when she starting putting her hair up in a messy bun with the tie she must have found in her pocket. As she lifted her arms up to wind the tie around her hair the shirt rose up and gave him a pretty spectacular view of her long legs. His mouth fell open. He quickly turned back to the shelves as she turned around, needing a moment to recover his senses. It had to be a short moment because she walked straight over to him, looking much more like herself, excluding the outfit.

"I think I need to eat something, what do we have?" Kate inwardly applauded herself for the fact that her voice sounded completely normal.

Castle cleared his throat and sent up a silent prayer for his voice to sound anywhere near as normal as hers.

"We have more crackers, although they didn't seem to appeal to you earlier, some chips, some canned peaches…" he had been so relieved that his voice sounded somewhere in the ballpark of normal that he hadn't noticed how close she was getting as he fumbled around behind the cans. When he realized how close her face was to his, he faltered.

Kate didn't even seem to notice, as her eyes grew bright and she stood on her tiptoes and reached behind the cans herself, rejoicing at the fact that she'd found a fairly large supply of chocolate. She only realized her mistake as her hand briefly touched Castle's, and she turned slightly to find his face less than an inch away from hers, his eyes briefly flashing down to her lips before meeting her eyes.

Kate swallowed and, trying to break the tension, she let her heels fall back to the ground, putting a couple more inches between their faces, and waved the chocolate in his direction with a grin.

He smiled and, for once, sounded just like the father he was when he told her she had to eat something better for her before she could have the chocolate. Kate just grinned at him again and walked away.

They chatted about Alexis while they ate – Castle managing to get Kate to eat something other than chocolate – and for the first time in days it felt normal. Mostly. There were still a few sticky moments. The chocolate was melting, of course, so that caused one of them. Castle regretted finding it with the supplies the minute he saw Kate licking it off her fingers. He was trying not to let his mind take the image further, and it was only partially effective. He needed a minute, so excused himself and went in the bathroom. Maybe splashing water on his face would help.

Kate was feeling much more like herself, but was still exhausted. The two brief naps she'd taken (although the first unintentionally) hadn't really helped, and it was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She smiled as her mind flashed back to the conversation they had over dinner. They had been talking about Alexis – a nice, safe subject – when he turned to Kate and said, "She's one of the reasons Gina and I could never be together again. Gina never really cared much for her. She tried… she just didn't have it in her."

By the time Castle walked back into the room she was curled up on her side of the couch, smiling up at him sleepily. It took what remained of his willpower to just smile back, because she looked so damn adorable, her hair falling out of her hair tie and framing her face.

He cleared up the remains of their food, put some fresh bottles of water on the table and joined Kate on the couch, making sure to stick to his side. They still had a good few hours in here, by his estimation, so they might as well get some sleep.

* * *

Kate woke to the sensation of lips kissing her neck. Her eyes flew open, only to see a sound asleep Castle inches away from her. Somehow in their sleep they'd both moved towards each other. They were stretched out along the couch, Castle trapped between the back of the couch and Kate, with his arm under her and his hand in her hair. As much as she would have loved to blame Castle (and whatever he was dreaming about), Kate realized that she must have moved towards him too, because her head was now at the end of the couch where Castle had been sleeping. There was also the fact that her leg was wrapped around his, keeping him closer to her than she thought was a good idea. As soon as she registered that fact, she became aware of Castle's free hand on her waist – beneath the shirt, touching bare skin.

She closed her eyes again for a second, not sure how to extract herself from the couch, or even if she wanted to, but opened them in shock when she felt his hand travel down her body to her thigh. She bit her lip hard as she felt his hand reach the back of her knee, pulling her leg further around him.

The shiver that went through Kate woke Castle.

* * *

**OK, I admit it**, **I am the slowest writer on here. Seriously I really did try to get this done faster. In the end I banned myself from reading anyone else's fics until I updated (so I have a lot of unread story alerts sitting in my inbox - I read on a different ID btw - again down to nervousness lol) and forced myself to watch the finale to try and get my mind back in the right place (I was going all fangirl over the new promo shots). It's longer than the other chapters if that's any consolation. I hope no one gave up waiting for me. Out of interest should this stay T or go M?  
**


	5. Chapter 5

On instinct, as Castle woke he rolled them over. The first thing he was aware of was the fact that his body was hovering over Kate's, then he registered that his hand was on the back of her knee. He opened his eyes, to find himself staring into Kate's. His panic over the position he found himself in fled as he saw the intensity in her eyes. She was biting her lip, which he had always found irresistible, and he had to use all his restraint to stop from acting, waiting for a signal from her. When he got his signal it was not the one he had been expecting. He was waiting for something subtle – a glance at his lips, or maybe just Kate leaning towards him – so when her eyes closed and her hips rolled against his, her breathing already a little ragged, he was torn between believing he was still asleep or that he had died and gone to heaven. Once his sleep and heat addled brain realized this was real he felt his heart stop briefly before kicking into overdrive.

Kate hadn't been able to stop herself. He was so close, and her body was reacting of its own accord. For once, she was going to let go and not over think, the way she had with every previous interaction with Castle until today.

The flurry of motion would have amazed anyone who knew how painfully slow the relationship had developed. Both moved toward the other, lips meeting, anything but tentative. For a first kiss it was like nothing either had experienced before. Her teeth grazed his lower lip, and he pushed his hips forward in response. For once, neither held back. Kate threaded her fingers into his hair and pulled him closer; Castle's hand was already in her hair, but moved down to cup her face. The hand on her leg moved back up under the shirt, gripping her waist, his fingers tracing patterns on her lower back, before slowly moving higher to brush the underside of her breast over her bra. He paused a moment to give her a chance to stop where this was headed, and was nothing short of awestruck when she arched her back, her mouth moving from his in the process. He moved his lips down to her neck, and she made a sound of frustration when he slid his hand back down her body and out of her shirt, only to groan her appreciation when both his hands went to the buttons of the shirt. He managed to free most of the buttons before pulling the shirt apart, the last few pinging off around the room.

Kate felt a little dazed, but in a really, really, good way. Everything was happening fast, logically she knew that, but it didn't _feel_ fast, it just felt right. Two years of almost-foreplay, a day of realizing (or admitting) her feelings plus the last few hours trapped in this room… it was too much. She finally knew that she needed to act – that they both did. Every single emotion she had gone through that day made it clear that this is what she wanted, and without the blinkers she'd used for the last two years she was able to admit that Castle had made his feelings for her very clear, in his own unique way. So when she rolled him onto his back and sat up to take off the shirt, it felt natural to unhook the clasp of her bra at the same time. As she moved to take off the garment Castle's hands stopped her, giving her a moment of uncertainty.

"Let me." Castle sat up, his face inches away from hers, and pulled the straps off her shoulders and down her arms, slowly, eyes never leaving hers. He kissed her again before looking down, taking her in. "You're beautiful, Kate."

She flushed in response, and then in desire as his hands brushed against her breasts, his fingers slowly rubbing her nipples, pinching them lightly, before moving his head down to take one in his mouth. He felt, more than heard, the soft moan that escaped her lips. Pushing her onto her back, he kissed his way down her body slowly, then back up to her mouth. His hand trailed down her side, brushing the top of her panties, her breathing hitching as he moved his hand to her inner thigh. He slowly slid his hand into her folds, groaning when he felt just how wet she was already. He pushed two fingers inside her and pumped slowly, his thumb gently brushing against her clit. She made a sound of frustration and moved her hips against his hand more urgently, signally that she needed him to pick up the pace. He added a third finger and moved them in and out of her faster, putting more pressure on the bundle of nerves with his thumb, feeling her walls tighten around his fingers. Crooking his fingers at the knuckle, he moved even faster, kissing her mouth hard, swallowing the noises she made as she came apart against him. He kept kissing her lightly until she came back to herself. She gave him a lazy smile, flipping them over with an ease that made Castle take a mental note never to spar with her. Well… depending on the situation.

Kate stood, and for a moment Castle thought she was having seconds thoughts, that she had decided this was only happening because of their current environment and someone needed to put the breaks on. He knew that the fact that he even thought that meant he was worrying about it himself. People often made him out as a playboy, and until he met Kate he was fine with that. But he had changed since meeting her – in some ways intentionally, but he was aware that there were times when he acted differently without even having to think it through. His time with Kate had changed him, no matter what anyone else wanted to believe. He had gone from being completely happy to be unattached to any one woman, to yearning with everything he had in him that he could share his life with her. With Kate. He knew it was too early in what could tentatively be called their new relationship to be in love, but the truth was he had fallen for her a long time ago. Fallen hard, he was willing to admit. As he looked up at her standing over him it took everything he had not to tell her. As fast as things were moving, it still felt like there was a delicate balance to their relationship, and he wanted to do nothing – nothing – to scare her away from him now.

He watched, swallowing hard, as she slipped out of her underwear. She leaned down, her face now parallel to his, and unfastened his belt and jeans, moving to pull them off him. In an unexpected display of restraint he lifted her chin and met her eyes, asking her, "Are you sure?"

Not trusting her voice, Kate just nodded. Signaling him to lift his hips, she dragged his jeans down his legs, taking his boxers with them, and pushed him so he was leaning against the back of the couch. She gently reached for his cock, slowly running her hand up its length, her thumb brushing the tip lightly. She knelt in front of the couch and leaned down, running her tongue from the base of his shaft to the tip, swirling her tongue around the tip before taking the head into her mouth. All vestiges of restraint gone, Castle groaned and touched her cheek, knowing he needed to slow this down or risk embarrassing himself. She looked up to his face, not releasing him from her mouth. The sight alone was nearly enough to make him come. He shook his head and reached for her, pulling her up and into him. She sat down in his lap, straddling him so they were face to face again.

He pulled her face to his and kissed her deeply, imitating with his tongue what he wanted to do with the rest of his body. It was too much for Kate. She broke the kiss and raised her body over his, holding the base of his cock with one hand, lowering herself onto him until he was as deep as he could go. They both groaned at the sensation. His hands found her waist as she began to move over him, slowly at first while they found their rhythm. When the need became too much, she began to move faster, rising and falling over him quickly, her eyes closing. Pushing his hips up to meet hers, Castle moved one of his hands to her clit, rubbing in time with the motion of their hips, which was becoming frenzied. He felt her inner muscles begin to contract around him, and his mouth latched onto her nipple, tugging at the little bud with his teeth. When she came it was loudly, her mind going blank as her muscles spasmed around him.

Castle held on to his control long enough to roll them, so her back was against the couch. Still inside her, he began to thrust deeply, kissing every inch of skin he could find and repeating her name over and over, almost like a prayer. Her back arched as she unexpectedly began to feel another orgasm building within her. She pulled his face to hers, kissing him until they had to break apart for oxygen, winding her legs around his back, pulling him in deeper. Castle groaned at the sensation and lost control, thrusting harder and harder, the high pitched sounds coming from Kate on each thrust encouraging him to increase the pace, feeling her inner muscles beginning to flutter around him again. This time when she came, she threw her head back, her hips rising to meet his, her muscles clamping hard around him as he pounded into her, drawing out his own orgasm. It was on another level to any he had experienced before. He peppered her skin with kisses as he came back to himself, not wanting to speak, not sure if he had the words to tell her how much she meant to him, how much this had meant to him. When he looked in her eyes they were shining, and the emotion in them made his heart skip a beat. They were both still figuring out what to say to the other when Kate's phone vibrated to say there was a new text message. Unable to bring himself to pull away from her, Castle reached out his hand and brought the phone to Kate. She murmured her thanks and quickly read the text message, passing the phone to Castle to read.

**The power will be back in a few minutes. We should be able to get the door open in about 30.**

"I guess we better get ready to leave." There was a touch of wistfulness in Kate's voice, but Castle wasn't about to let her think their relationship was going to go back to the way it was before, especially considering the fact that he was still buried inside her. Other than the fact that he knew they needed to move before the doors opened (the boys would never, ever, let them live this down if they found them in their present state) he really had no desire to move, to let her leave, to go back to real life where the two of them could spend years denying that they felt anything but friendship for the other.

Kate squirmed underneath him, which had the opposite effect to that she had intended and made Castle even less eager to let her leave as he felt himself hardening again in response. Knowing he didn't really have a choice, he withdrew from her, but the little shiver that went through her, combined with the moan she made as he pulled out of her, made him change his mind. Castle brought his face down to hers to kiss her, unable to stop the yelp he made when she rolled them over once again, putting a finger over his lips. "We don't have time. We need to get cleaned up before they open that door, because I am **not** letting the boys see what happened in here."

"They'll figure it out." Castle knew his voice sounded a little pleading, but he just wasn't ready to let her leave.

"I have no doubt that they will, but that doesn't mean I'm prepared to let them see it with their own eyes, no matter how much I would love to stay here with you on this couch, Castle."

"Really? You would?" The – and this time she allowed herself the use of the word – adorable, eager smile on his face made Kate smile.

"Yes Castle, I would. Look… we can keep talking around the subject as much as we like, but we're just gonna end up hurting each other, and anyone else that gets hit by the crossfire."

Castle nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"I **really** like you. I know I left it kinda late to tell you, but I do. I don't want you to leave for the summer, I want you to stay here with me, or take me to the Hamptons with you. Your choice, but they're your only options." Castle rolled them back over, laughing a little at Kate's surprised squeak - at the motion and the fact that it had left them lying on the floor, with Castle's body pressing into hers.

"You know, I always loved when you used your detective voice on me." He started kissing her neck, causing Kate to groan slightly in frustration; more than one kind of frustration. She pulled his face up to hers and gave him a heated kiss, breaking away as the power was restored and the overhead lights came back on.

"Do we have a deal?" She asked a little breathlessly.

Castle responded by cupping her ass and grinding his now raging erection into her, causing her to moan into his mouth. She tried to swat him away, which had absolutely no effect. "Castle, we don't have time for this."

"I can be quick." The grin on his face was downright evil.

"That's not a very convincing argu…umph!" Her sentence was cut off by the groan she made when he drove himself back inside her. His hand slid back down to her clit, rubbing in circles, while the other hand pulled her closer towards him with each thrust. Kate bit down on his neck in an attempt to stifle the groans she couldn't stop herself making every time their hips ground together forcefully, but her orgasm washed over her almost out of nowhere, and she couldn't stop the surprised but loud scream that came out of her mouth. The sound and the sensation of her clamping down like a vice around his cock was too much for Castle and he came with her, his hips pinning her to the floor as he pumped inside her a few final times.

This time, instead of letting her try to convince him to allow her to get up, he picked her up, somehow managing to stay inside her, finally letting her drop her feet to the floor as they reached the shower and he turned on the water. He kissed her gently before pushing her under the spray.

"I'm not going anywhere." He promised, in the serious voice Kate hardly ever heard him use before tonight.

He washed them both with the new bar of soap he had found in the shower, running it over Kate almost reverently.

"I had this amazing dream earlier about this shower," he breathed into her ear.

Kate looked up at him in surprise. "Me too," she whispered.

"Maybe we can compare notes later," he said with an expression bordering on a leer, which made Kate laugh just a little. It was nice… feeling like she didn't need to watch what she said or did around him. It felt kinda… freeing, and she liked it. A lot. Castle didn't comment on it, but he enjoyed watching the little transformation that came over her.

They dressed, Castle making sure that his shirt was tucked in enough to hide the missing buttons. Clearing away the candles and everything else they had moved, Castle surreptitiously flipping a couch cushion while Kate wasn't looking. They both struggled to stop themselves touching the other, more for reassurance that they weren't dreaming, that this had really happened, than anything else.

As they waited for the door to open, they both sat on the couch, a little closer than they usually would, both nervous about what would happen after they left this little bubble they'd constructed, but each was determined that they would, under no circumstances, allow things to go back to the way they were before.

As the door opened they rose together and walked out.

"Maybe I should get one of these built into the loft." Castle couldn't resist whispering in her ear, his playful tone making it clear that he wasn't thinking about building it for safety reasons.

Kate just raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, before replying, "Why don't we just start with the closets and see where things go."

Any hope they had of hiding what had happened from Esposito and Ryan was lost when the pair saw the matching grins on Castle and Beckett's faces, but neither of them could bring themselves to care. Even when Gina walked up to them, clearly unbelievably pissed at the situation and making no effort to hide it, they kept on walking to the elevator, although Castle took a moment to take his phone from her hand.

When she gathered her wits and yelled his name, Castle just turned his head to her and said, "We're not going to the Hamptons."

When Gina just stared at them open mouthed as the doors began to close, he spoke again. "I'll call you when I finish the book, I promise."

The last thing Gina saw as the doors closed was Kate leaning into Castle, who was smiling down at her in what, to Gina's well-trained eye, was obvious adoration.

* * *

**I swear these characters have a mind of their own! This didn't end up the way I had originally planned. Would you believe me if I said they weren't supposed to have sex in the panic room? Because they weren't, honestly! Anyway I hope it lived up to expectations. If there are any mistakes, put it down to the fact that I really needed to get this finished before season 3 starts. Thank you for all the reviews, I feel so much more confident than I did before. You're all awesome.  
**


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